Egg crate flat



Deco, 1949 l.. scHwAR-rzBERG EGG CRATE FLAT Filed Dec. 2, 1948 wig Patented Dec. 6, 1949 UNITED s'rAT-ss mi* ENT 4ort oRA'rE, FLAT Louis Schwartzberg, Chicago, Ill,

Application December 2, 1948, Seria-l No. 633043 39h/ims- :1 This invention relates toipackipg. devices .called flats for sepa-ratingv iayersof `eggsain shipping Vand storing crates.

My invention .is an improvement upon the structure of my United :States-Patent No. :2,311,-v 473, dated February 16,. 19.43.

When .eggs are towbesremoyed from crates, iii is customaryI to iii-tout oneeflat with these-Called filler .and alayer of; threexdozeneggs .which rest upon the flat. Whenthisffiatis. placed upon` a level surface and theiiller.` removed', the. eggs may be easily lifted. out; of4 the layer.. .In using the nat of. my presentsinyention; the smallends of the eggs are supponted'withinett-1e. craters, .each donned by three 4long. prongs; which engage the eggs before the lower .endsof'the eggs seat upon the bottoms .oi theocraters.. -Theprongsextend-- ing .downwardiy fromy Vthe Ahat denne- .craters .of larger .cross-section so. that. the. 'large' ends .of the eggs areguided withinfthesedownwaidly `ex-tende ine prongs. The springinessvoisthe. upwardly es? tending vprongs-is such that. all .eggs V.tilii `Yer-5 smal-l .ones are held with theunper .ends of the esas against .the centers .of the 'upper craters. When largev eggs are possente@ pronssdenniris the lower cra-tersaredeeted .by the-.pressured the eggs. .endif large @ses .are eakssithey will be separated verticallysgnly. bythe. thickness oi the material of the flats.

With the .Sflllcil Qfmyfformel .Patent above referred to, the small ends of the eggs rested on the bottoms .ofthe waterstand? the prongs did not .embrace the eser .as to prevent the eggs from tipping when the fillers were removed, it being the purpose ofthe former struc'- ture to have they craters `ali-ke -iorboth ends of the eggs. With the use of my improved Af 1 ,aij,al1 of the eggs y stand vertically between the prongs .forming the lower craters 'even when the -iill'ers are removed.

In my former patent, the rosettes forming the egg craters are arranged symmetrically about each of the diagonals of square ats so that the flats will nest with one another perfectly in any one of eight positions. In accordance with my present invention, perfect nesting will occur so long as the craters for the small ends of the eggs remain facing in the same direction; that is, in any one of four positions. If the ats are laid together with the craters intended to receive the small ends of eggs facing the craters intended to receive the large ends of eggs, there will be a substantial nesting, but the tall prongs defining the craters for the small ends of the eggs will contact the inner walls of the prongs dening craters in- .2. tendedv for; the. large: .omis-.65!" tile. gg- DSQI@ till@ horizontal portions; of .theI .dass meet, @menestingfof theiiatszin'this position srsilffinttp t191@ the stacks-.of flats; againstl lateral-.shitting and the many points. .of contact provide .snilicisnt rigidity to .srevent domage tothe no .is where the .natsaarelbonndtightly intopundles. 1f two nets .are laidntogether witrrthe rotors v.for theflarge.- ends .of eggs .i y. prongs will nestinsush l. horizontal fuor-tions: of tixedia@ to suhstontlally .contact .one another. Y

My inventionis: illustrated-the sospinto-.erf isstdrawinasin-.whieh Fis. 1 is a plan view of meiner-.centralresettes wien the :remainder-or toegetreden aw ,Fig. ahlen ing thev 4opposite in Fig. 1..

rig.. 3lis.asectionunousntwonats and through twillersbetweenfatsasnowinsthe positioning .o f an .egg .between ,the dats;

Fien iss seetioathrouehfnortionsot thteaflots nested with;-.one. another, .theiower Itwoiiats having like prongs extending in thesarrie direction, and the .upper nsthavinsits .long nrsnssfacing the short prongsot tleipycergtlats, and:

Fig; .\5..-is anzedgeryiewf otra .sentirla of gergt,

The natseffsmyzieventlon.arepreierably .Inode vof paper pulp-:by thepnocessodepositing hulp out of. a slurryontosa properly shaped screen, either :by: suction". ,orf prossime;- Thez method. gf making the flats forms no part of my; present invention, and, in. taohcthe .atszmay :loegnrade of other vmaterials:suchzasalinninurn...orfplastic.

yIt is customary-mesnil: .andistore i eggs in .crates fholding thirty ,dozenieggs Eachsiiat is arranged tossupport three dieneneggs.l w'hcats are-made substantiallysquare and twintoeompartmentsfifll crates with so-called fillers between the'gflaigs, thus forming thirty-six cells for eggs between each pair of flats.

In accordance with my present invention, each egg receiving crater is dened by three prongs, and the spaces between prongs which extend upwardly from each rosette form the inner or hollow portions of prongs which extend in the opposite direction on the opposite side of each rosette.

Referring to Fig. l, the upwardly extending prongs 6 are so shaped that the craters which they define are of slightly less curvature than the small ends of average size eggs, while the downwardly extending prongs I define craters of substantially the curvature of the large ends of average size eggs. Each of the prongs 1 has a substantially fiat portion 8 which serves to shorten the prongs 1 and provides a larger support for the prongs of the lower flat than if the prongs 1 were more pointed. All of the rosettes on each flat are arranged symmetrically about both the diagonals and diameters of the iiats so that when packing the ats for shipment, they will nest together in any one of the four positions in which they may bestacked together if the longer prongsuwhich A'support thel small ends of eggs ali face in the same direction. If the ats are reversed so that the longer prongs face the shorter prongs of the adjacent flat, then the ats will nest together imperfectly but suciently to prevent the flats from sliding on one anotherwhen thus stacked. The perfect nesting is illustrated by the lower two flats 9 and I0 of'Fig, 4,' and the imperfect nesting is illustrated by the upper two flats I and il of Fig. 4..,

When a crate is packed with flats, illlers and eggs, the shorter projections 'I will rest with their flat portions 8 on the bottom I2 of the crate. The eggs vI3will rest with their'smaller ends within the craters formed bythe taller projections 6.

The lattice-like iillers I4 extend in both directions on top of and resting upon the upper surface of the lower flat. The horizontal portions of the underside of the next iiat above -rest upon the upper edges of the iillers I4. The flats and llers are guided against lateral movement relative to one another by the outer edges of the upwardly and downwardly projecting prongs. The upper large ends of the eggs t into the craters defined by the shorter prongs l to hold the eggs in substantially vertical position.

When a crate is lled, the eggs form columns iive eggs high, and unless the eggs are very large, the centers of the small ends of the eggsvdo not quite contact the bottoms of the craters in which they stand. If the eggs are larger than the average size, the prongssupporting the small ends of the eggs bend or spread outwardly to permit the eggs when squeezed into the crate to approach or even actually touch the bottoms of the craters in which they rest. l By shaping the 'prongs so as to engage the small ends of eggs slightly away from the tips of the eggs, the egs will stand upright on the fiat even after the fillers have been removed, whereas if the prongs are shaped to t the large ends of eggs, the eggs will not stand upright with the filler removed if the eggs are resting upon their small ends.

Although I have shown and described my invention as applied to flats arranged for nesting in any one of a plurality oflpositions, it is to be understood that my invention is applicable to flats in which the nesting loccurs in only one of the four positions in which the flats may be placed together.

I claim:

1. A iiat for an egg shipping crate having a plurality of rosettes each formed with three protuberances equally spaced about a common center on opposite sides of the sheet forming the fiat, the three protuberances on one side of the sheet being shaped to dene a crater corresponding with the large end of an egg, and the projections on the other. side of the sheet being shaped to denea crater slightly more acute than the small end of an egg.

2. In a flat for separating layers of eggs in a crate, a plurality of rosettes of prongs extending upwardly and downwardly from the level of the fiat, the prongs extending in one direction dening curved craters of slightly less radius than the curvature of v,the small end of an everage sized hens egg, and the prongs extending in the opposite direction defining curved craters of substantially the radius of the curvature of the large end of an average sized hens egg there being sub stantially fiat slanting walls extending from the apexes of the prongs on one side of the flat to the apexes of the prongs on the other side of the at, the iiat being square and the prongs being arranged symmetrically about both diagonals of the square so that when laid together in any one of the eight ways in which two flats may be laid together the prongs of each flat will extend into the hollow portions of prongs of the other flat.

3. A flat for resting upon one and supporting another filler and for separating layers of eggs in a shipping crate having a plurality of egg guiding and ller guiding rosettes each having three upwardly extending prongs and three downwardly extending prongs with substantially ilat walls extending from the apexes of the upwardly extending prongs to the apexes of the downwardly extending prongs, the prongs of adjacent rosettes being separated from one another and sloping toward their bases to receive and guide the ller to its place between the rosettes, the upwardly extending prongs being shaped to form craters of slightly less radius than the small ends of average sized hens eggs, and the downwardly extending prongs being shaped to form craters of substantially the same radius as the large ends of average sized hens eggs.

LOUIS SCHWARTZBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,687,224 Oxhandler Oct. 9, 1928 2,311,473 Schwartzberg Feb. 16, 1943 

